Out of the Shadows
by unamadridista
Summary: Eight years after sharing a scorching, unplanned kiss with Severus Snape after his trial, a divorced and world-weary Hermione Granger returns to Hogwarts to begin a new career path. Still haunted by the incident between them, will Hermione be able to find happiness with the most unforgettable man from her past or risk heartbreak all over again? HG/SS. Adult readers only, please.


**This story takes place eight years after the Battle of Hogwarts. Severus Snape survives, due to a little help from Hermione. Throughout his recovery and trial, she stands by her former professor to lend her support and help in his exoneration. One night they shared an unforgettable moment that still haunts Hermione, but since that time life took them both their separate ways. Until one day, she returns to Hogwarts to begin a new career path under the guidance of none other than Professor Snape himself. Will they take a second chance at happiness or forever wonder what could have been?**

**All characters and cannon situations belong to J.K. Rowling.**

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><p>Hermione had purposely chosen to sit near the back of the classroom in order to study him without being obvious. It was remarkable how little he changed: same shoulder-length black hair, same stern expression in his obsidian eyes, same black robes, and the same deep, well-modulated notes of his voice. His voice. She hadn't realized how comforting it would be to hear it after all this time. The eight years since they'd last seen each other had hardly changed him physically. She wished she could say the same about herself.<p>

Gone were the bushy hair that had characterized her schoolgirl hairstyle. Now soft waves were swept back into a low chignon. Gone was the innocence and the idealism. The woman was all too aware of the cruelties and injustices of this world. Severus Snape was all too familiar with that as well. They weren't the same people they had been eight years ago.

She had often thought about that day in May, when she saw him dying in the Shrieking Shack. Since going through marriage and divorce, the memories had become hazy, some details faded. Now, seeing him again, the memories rushed back with vivid sharpness and strength. Hermione could feel the panic rise up in her as it did that night when she desperately applied the Essence of Dittany to his wounds. It wasn't working well against the snake's venom. More and more of his blood poured out in crimson rivulets. She kept whispering for him to hold and asking for help, of whom or of what she knew not. Then, as if by miracle, Fawkes appeared. Hermione hadn't seen the bird since the day Dumbledore died when it flew away from Hogwarts. At that moment though, she had never been so happy to see anybody. The phoenix cocked his head inquisitively at her and then his tears trickled down onto her professor's wounds. When the wounds began to heal, the bird cocked his head at her again and flew off.

Hermione smiled at the memory. The sounds of scraping chairs shook her out of her reverie. The class was over, it was time for her to finally face him. Head down, she weaved her way through the maze of lab tables. When she was a few feet away from his desk, she lifted up her eyes and met Severus Snape's onyx gaze fully for the first time in eight years.

"Hello, Miss Granger."

A gasp died in her throat as she opened her mouth to respond, "Hello, Professor Snape."

His thin mouth formed a tight line as his eyes took an inventory of her face. She saw them course down from her hair, to her eyes, to the slender elegance of her nose, and came to a stop on her lips. He studied them for a long time and she nearly kicked herself when her tongue automatically came out to moisten them.

It was dangerously quiet in the room. He had come away from his desk to stand directly in front of her. He had always been so overwhelmingly tall, not in an intimidating manner, but in a more protective one.

"I didn't expect you here so early." Standing close together, his voice sounded more intimate than ever, wrecking more havoc on her nerves.

Eight years of maturity were swept away by his indirect reprimand and she felt young and callow as the first day she had met him in this very room.

"I'm sorry," she croaked out. "I didn't want to be late."

"I appreciate your concern, but it was unfounded. I wouldn't have taken any points off."

Was he teasing her? She wasn't sure; his expression was still so serious. She blushed as he continued to analytically peruse her face and wondered if he thought the years had complimented or detracted from her features. Hermione didn't feel that she had become more or less attractive; she only knew that she had changed and was different from the girl that had so eagerly raised her hand at his every question.

"Miss Granger…or should I say Mrs. Weasley now?"

She shook her head. "No, it's Miss Granger again. I've been divorced for three years now."

His eyebrows, which were a tad shaggy, lifted up in silent inquiry, but she didn't elaborate and he didn't ask further questions.

"I was surprised to receive your application for Potions Apprenticeship. Your N.E.W.T. score is high enough, of course, and you're certainly qualified. I just didn't think the subject particularly appealed to you."

She smiled, not having any idea how her natural smile lit up her face. For the last several years smiles hadn't come easily, but when they did, the weariness that unhappiness had etched on her face was erased and her shallow dimples showed through.

It took her a long time to respond, "That's not entirely true. I guess it took me a long time to fully appreciate it and the needs the wizarding world has for certain potions that aren't as readily available as they should be."

Hermione glanced away from her former professor as the image of him in the Shrieking Shack flashed through her mind again. She never wanted to feel as helpless and useless as she had in that moment.

"Yes, well, there are few who can make a lasting contribution to this field. It requires discipline, strident application, logical analysis, patience, as well as highest expertise. It takes more than regurgitating answers from books." He gave her a pointed look.

Defensively, she drew back from him. "Sir, I earned top grades on all of my N.E.W.T.s. Although it has been several years since I've taken them, you can test me again on Potions, if you like. You will see that I do not rely constantly on books to perform my tasks."

"That wouldn't be necessary. Please, sit." He gestured toward the empty table and Hermione promptly sat down. He carefully took a seat next to hers and continued, "I happen to have personally seen every potion you've brewed since your first year here." He smirked. "Not to mention, the fact that you've solved my obstacle riddle – again, your first year here. And you've managed to create something that proved to be rather helpful in my recovery. You are, by far, the most qualified applicant for this position."

Did he just insult then compliment her Potions skills within a few sentences?

What a complicated man!

"Well…thank you, sir. Although I admit I was surprised myself to see that you're back at teaching your old subject. I honestly thought you came back to your former post as Defense teacher."

"I've resumed the Potions post a few years back after Horace's second retirement and I'm afraid I've become somewhat of a curiosity figure around here, mostly since Rita Skeeter's book." He grimaced as he said that name.

"That lying hag! I doubt most people see her work as serious journalism, sir; it's tabloid sensationalism, nothing more," Hermione indignantly said. "Curiosity about you will die down eventually, and soon students will learn to avoid you again, just like the old times."

The corners of his mouth twitched up before his guarded expression returned and he searched her eyes with his intense gaze that made her feel uncomfortably warm.

"Why did you apply for the apprenticeship, Miss Granger?"

She looked down into her lap. "I told you and as I explained in my letter, I need it. Two-year apprenticeship experience is a minimum requirement to be able to have a brewing contract with St. Mungo's."

He ignored her answer. "Are you a curiosity seeker too? Did you want to see if I'd morphed into an over-grown bat or a snake since you'd last seen me?"

"No!" she strongly protested. "Of course, not. Never!"

"Did you want to see if I had remembered you?" he asked, leaning forward in his seat. The distance between them was visibly diminished, but instead of moving away, Hermione felt an irresistible pull to move closer still.

"It'd be kind of hard to forget an 'insufferable know-it-all', wouldn't it?" she joked.

He dismissed her attempt at levity with his next question, "Did you want to see if I'd remembered the night we kissed?"

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><p><strong>More to come shortly. Let me know what you think :)<strong>


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